The Pakistan government has argued that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition challenging the establishment of military courts until the armed forces were assisting the civil power.

The Pakistan government has argued that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition challenging the establishment of military courts until the armed forces were assisting the civil power.

According to the Dawn, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt said the validity of any direction issued by the federal government to the armed forces could not be called in question in any court as per the addition of clauses 2, 3 and 4 through amendments to Article 245 of the Constitution that has taken away the jurisdiction of the superior judiciary to intervene in the matter.

Citing a number of cases and a huge volume of case laws, the attorney general emphasised that the constitutional provision (Article 245) also took away the jurisdiction of high courts under Article 199 in relation to any area in which the armed forces for the time being were operating in aid of the civil power.

Butt also argued that the jurisdiction of courts had been already determined by the constitution.